Handouts & Worksheets

This handout was developed by Marilyn Zupkoff as a tool for providers. It is a brief summary of “Lessons Learned” from “The Body Keeps the Score” by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and includes tips for professionals while dealing with a person who has experienced trauma is in a trauma-induced state of mind.
English Version
Spanish Version

This colorful and creative handout was developed as a tool for discussing burnout and vicarious trauma (aka a trauma-exposure response) within a supervision or team context. It was inspired from the book “Trauma Stewardship” by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky and developed by Cally Bucknell. It is best when printed on large 11x17 paper and used like a poster.
English Version
Spanish Version

The Four I’s of Oppression is an open-source framework that was developed by an anonymous group of people. It is used in the Core Curriculum as one of the lenses to approach trauma-informed work. As part of the Wisconsin Hawthorn Project, a Spanish version was translated and is available here.
English Version
Spanish Version

What do people experience when they first enter your building? First Impressions is designed by Dawn Kay and Christy Reppe as a platform for discussions around the impact that your waiting room environment and staff may have on a first-time visitor. It includes a scenario and discussion questions.
English Version
Spanish Version

This worksheet is designed for completing with clients/patients/participants and/or with your team. As a way to prompt conversations about coping, healing, and self-care, it also opens the door to accountability regarding our own well-being and the well-being of the community members around us. Karen Larson and Sonja Conklin designed this version with a domestic violence shelter in mind.
Bilingual English-Spanish Worksheet

The neuroscience of trauma and well-being can be so complex! In this handout, Priscilla Wallace breaks the theory down into brief, visually supported ideas for use with parents and other people who don’t want to get bogged down in all of the psychobabble and research. This is a great resource to pair with a presentation.
Bilingual English-Spanish Handout

Due to the way in which nature can guide us towards resilience and healing, this brief review of “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer gives us a glimpse into the nature as a source of medicine/metaphor, and ancestral wisdom and healing. Julia McLester designed it as guiding reference point for reciprocity as a measure of well-being.
Bilingual English-Spanish Handout

Aída Inuca created this bilingual handout to outline five (5) components involved in the nuance of self-care, especially when facing painful situations. Her work was inspired by reading “Trauma Stewardship” by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky.
Bilingual English-Spanish Handout

Inspired by some of the content in “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel van der Kolk, Yari Hernandez created this graphic chart of “top down” and “bottom-up” approaches to regulating your nervous system when distressed (hint: the more overwhelmed you are, the more important the “bottom-up” approaches will be)! This is a useful tool for almost anyone!
English Version
Spanish Version

Jessica Dallman created these double-sided, colorful cards to include inspirational quotes on one side, and trauma statistics (many Wisconsin-specific) as a tool for prompting introductions and interactions at trauma-related trainings and events. The dual nature of the cards are an example of the human need to both lean into the reality of the pain around us, and take breaks to receive the enjoyable parts of life. They are great when printed, cut-out, and laminated. 40 double-sided cards total.
English Version
Spanish Version

Nili Karul created this document as a guide for professionals while supporting youth through trauma. She outlines professional considerations, possible effects of trauma on youth, and potential treatment options when someone needs more support. It is a great tool as a reference for staff who are newer to working with trauma, or in settings that are not typically identified as places for working with trauma or mental health.
Bilingual English-Spanish Handout

This handout integrates lessons learned from reading “Trauma Stewardship” by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky with the traditional five (5) directions philosophy used among tribes indigenous to the Great Lakes region and Turtle Island (aka North America). The front side introduces the overlapping frameworks, while the back side offers activities aligned with each of the fie directions in order to address a “trauma exposure response.” It was created by Jessica Adams.
English Version

As a result of facing employee burnout and vicarious trauma in the Child Welfare system, Teresa Way created this outline of intentions for employee wellness within the team. It helps encourage self-care among team members and acknowledges self-care as a process of accountability within work culture that can help employees sustain their work and recover from the stressors of their everyday high-stakes work life.
English Version

Virginia Lopez created this document with parents in mind. She wanted a resource that briefly acknowledged the impact of trauma on a child’s development, while also providing resources for parents and families to address and cope with a child’s traumas, starting with the value of their relationships.
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Spanish Version

This handout was created by Ashlee Zubek in order to offer a means for a) reflecting on the impacts of working in a trauma-based job, and b) providing some resources to deal with those impacts. It reads like a set of tips from a seasoned professional, balancing both hope and resilience with difficult questions for holding yourself accountable to your own well-being.
English Version

Stephani Storkson creating this living document as a tool to guide someone into a deeper process of introspection while completing the Infant, Early Childhood, and Family Mental Health Capstone program and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Introspection and self-reflection can help enhance our capacity for authenticity, vulnerability, and intimacy in relationships. This is an important skill for professional practice, as well as for creating meaning and belonging in life (which supports resilience)!
English Version

Dr. Michael McCabe adapted a nature-based practice to enhance non-judgmental awareness during rounds at school. It is designed with school leaders, like a principal, in mind. By using this kind of awareness, Michael hopes that administrators will be more conscious of their inherent power over students and work to make themselves more emotionally available.
English Version

This colorful, simple, double-sided resource is great for shelters, doctors offices, preschools, and daycare centers! The front offers, in accessible terms, signs of childhood trauma. While many resources often stop there, Emma Field used the back side to offer positive parenting tips, encouraging resilience and empowering the family to support their child.
English Version

Inspired by “Trauma Stewardship”, Jennifer Froh made a handout full of questions designed to help you, or your teammates, identify signs of vicarious trauma. It is best applied in dynamics where accountability to well-being (because that supports staff retention!) is valued. Let it be a call to action!
English Version

As an in-home service provider, Jodi Field knows that despair can take over at times while facing the reality of trauma in a person, in a family, or in a community. She also knows that there is always something that we can do to address childhood trauma, even in simple moments—so she made this resource. This handout has several categories of tips for maintaining momentum as a trauma-informed provider.
English Version

As a shelter advocate, Leighann Granados knows that language matters and that emotions can run high enough to influence our actions. In this handout, she listed a number of phrases, thoughts, and actions that have connotations of judgment, while offering alternative approaches that are more open, curious, and supportive.
English Version

Developing a trauma-informed staff requires trauma-informed leadership. For that reason, Christa Grande developed this resource for staff to keep by their desks. It a) identifies some types of traumatic experiences, b) examples of the impact of trauma, and c) ways that providers can support people who have experienced trauma or are showing signs of trauma.
English Version